Errors in observing RX SW drops in Bluefield-3

Infrastructure & Networking BlueField
1

Hello,

I am having an issue monitoring RX SW drops on BlueField-3.

From the documentation, I understand that RX SW drops refer to “the number of dropped packets due to a lack of WQE for the associated QPs/RQs (excluding hairpin QPs/RQs).”

I found two official ways to observe this metric, but both seem unsupported on my system.

First, with ngauge, host_rx_transport_out_of_buffer_packets (0x10800002000000XX) appears to correspond to RX SW drops. However, when I try to monitor it, I get the following error:

tkhan@tkhan-XPS-8940:~$ sudo ngauge all-dual-port-bf3-host.yml

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/opt/nvidia/ngauge/ngauge", line 39, in <module>
  File "/opt/nvidia/ngauge/ngauge/runner.py", line 102, in start
ValueError: The following Data IDs are not supported on this HW: 0x1080000200000000.

Second, with DOCA Flow Tune, enabling full monitoring produces the following warning:

ubuntu@localhost:/opt/mellanox/doca/tools$ sudo ./doca_flow_tune monitor -f /tmp/flow_tune_cfg.json background --high-rate
2026-03-19 06:51:05 - flow_tune - WARNING - Live Flow Tune Server was not detected on the provided socket
2026-03-19 06:51:05 - flow_tune - WARNING - Could not detect a running DOCA Flow program, some features will be impacted
2026-03-19 06:51:05 - flow_tune - WARNING - HW counter “RX SW Drops” is not supported on current device
2026-03-19 06:51:05 - flow_tune - WARNING - HW counter “Hairpin Drops” is not supported on current device
2026-03-19 06:51:05 - flow_tune - INFO - Counters are being saved to the CSV file, press Ctrl-C to exit
^C
2026-03-19 06:51:14 - flow_tune - INFO - DOCA Flow Tune finished successfully

Is there any constraint, prerequisite, or device-specific limitation for enabling this hardware counter on BlueField-3?

Any comments or guidance would be extremely helpful.

Best regards,
Taekyoung

2

Hi,

In order to answer your questions, we will need more details about your setup.

And this will require opening a support case in Nvidia portal.

To Create a New Enterprise Support Case Please Use One of the Following Methods

  1. Log in and Create a Case in the Enterprise Support Portal
    AppHub UI
    This is recommended and will provide the fastest response

  2. Call your Regional Enterprise Support Number
    Find your regional phone numbers:
    NVIDIA Enterprise Customer Support

  3. Create a Case Without a Login
    EnterpriseSupport
    Can be used to check warranty status
    Recommended to reset login passwords
    Requires validation and may increase time to respond

Best Regards,

Anatoly